Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-10-06
AS An ENGLISHMAN.
THE EFFORTS YOUNG AMERICA
MAKES TO POSE AS A BRITON.

A Long aud Tedious Process Of Prepare.
tion-The English" Method Of Speech
The EycGIass.
There is large number of young men
in these free states whose chief object in
life is to be taken for Englishmen.
The youth who wants to pass as an
Englishman is obliged to put himself
through a long and tedious process of
preparation He usually commences with
study of the ''English' method of
speech. The first task is to learn how To
talk away down i'll the chest" and tho
phrase chosen to experiment upon is, in
variably. by Jove" When he can say
this with the proper accent he next ven
lures upon You don't say so:'' He then
passes on TO such sentences as How
awfully jolly. l cawn't believe it, you
know y and so on.
II you live in the same house with him
you can hear him up to late hour of the
night repeating over and over such words
as ''dawncc. ''cawn't," .'pawth, ;"
''chawnce. ''rathaw." ..fathaw' and
''aw." Sometimes he will allow his
voice to slide up while he says ''demmit ="
The word that you will hear him use
oftenest is ''awfully" He will tell YOU
that the flower is 'awfully NICE" that the
policeman is ''awfully kwoss." that his
tea is ''awfully hot. and that Belle Jones
is lawfully jolly"
He would almost die for shame should
he make such a vulgar blunder as to saw
..panfs - The yx-nri b.. ,s. ...r,
"breeches," or bags" He will tell you
coniidentially. Il pwefew to say bags; it's
awfully English: the hest fellows all saw
it, You know" In this way does the
young citizen proceed TO Augliciro him
self.
But you can he English n NOR, views
than i'll speech. Dress Oftener proClaims
the American Englishman than ANYTHING
else. Any afternoon about this time of
year you may see dozens of American
EnGlishmen on Fifth avenue or in the
neighbOrhood of the Hoffman house. the
Brunswick. or Fifth Avenue hotel. They
are pretty sure TO he dressed in large pat
tern checks, TO carry enormous canes. and
10 have their trousers turned up at the
legs. pair OF trousers turned up at the
legs is the most English sight that YOU
can see.
WITH TROUSERS TURNED UP
l know young American Englishman
who runs to the window every morning
on rising 10 see if he will have an oppor-
tunity of turning his trousers legs up. II
the day looks fine he comes from the
window with disappointed air and says.
Too bad. by Jove. Ii isn't going 10
vain afteh all" Once he has become a
thorough Englishman. however, he will
walk through Broadway the sunniest ,iay
in the year with his trousers turned up.
The walk of the American Englishman
is also very distinctive. 1t is not, strictly
speaking. walk al all, but stride.
The feet are kept well apart and the toes
are turned slightly in as if the walker
wore spurs. The left arm is curved and
Is permitted Ia swing but very little.
The cane is carried pcrpendicularly and
the point is brought upon the ground
almost three feet in front of the walker.
II is not good form TO throw the chest too
forward, but You will notice
a graceful droop Of the shoulders
The single eye glass is nearly an abso-
lutte necessity, and the American English
man uses it in public just as soon as he
can get il into his eye without opening his
mouth. Several young gentlemen of my
acquaintance have seriously injured their
eyes by using strong eye glasses when
their sight was good. But injury to ones
eye is small penalty 20 pay for such n
and attractive practice. "By
love, Chawley," said one young gentle
man. Il would wawthaw endangaw the
total sight of one eye than suwwendaw the
privilege Of weaving the glass. 0 its
eewy English"
But the pillow Of the young swell is not
thorns. for his father is very often
a blunt spoken. honest man whose gram
mar and pronunciation are none too good.
IF fathaw would only altaw his speech a
wife l would give half my allowance.
He would nevvaw, nevvaw pass for an
This is the sad wall of
many young gentleman in the city Of
New York and through this country
ieorge Salisbury in The Epoch.